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Concerts to celebrate the work of retiring music professor and composer Richard Wilson, December 10-11, 2016

The Vassar College Music Department is holding two concerts to celebrate the work of retiring music professor and composer Richard Wilson. The performances will be held on Saturday, December 10, and Sunday, December 11. Both events are free and open to the public and will take place in Skinner Hall.

Wilson is a Professor of Music on the Mary Conover Mellon Chair. In addition to his 50 years of teaching at the college, Wilson is the composer of over one hundred works in many genres. His opera, Aethelred the Unready, was staged in 2011 in Symphony Space, New York City. He was a recent recipient of the Roger Sessions Memorial Bogliasco Fellowship as well as an Academy Award in Music from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He has previously received the Hinrichsen Award, the Stoeger Prize, the Cleveland Arts Prize, the Burge/Eastman Prize, a Frank Huntington Beebe Award, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. He joined the Vassar Faculty in 1966; he has served as Composer-in-Residence with the American Symphony Orchestra since 1992.

The Saturday evening program will begin at 8:00pm and will feature Wilson’s compositions Charades world premiere with Todd Crow, piano, and String Quartet No. 4, which will be performed by The Attacca Quartet. Ludwig van Beethoven’s String Quartet in C Major, Op. 59, No. 3 will also be performed by The Attacca Quartet.

The informal Sunday event will begin at 2:00pm, and will feature a variety of musicians performing favorite pieces. Included on the roster are: Moran Katz, clarinet; Mary Nessinger, mezzo-soprano; Robert Osborne, baritone; Tom Sauer, piano; Sophie Shao, cello; Vassar College Choir; and Richard Wilson, piano. The afternoon will also feature performances by faculty, staff, and alumni, including: Susan Botti, Sarah Canino, Christine Howlett, Kathryn Libin, Brian Mann, Drew Minter, Mark Moriarty, Eduardo Navega, James Osborn, Justin Patch, Michael Pisani, James Ruff, and more. A reception in the Bridge for Laboratory Sciences will follow; RSVP for the reception is requested by December 5 at concerts@vassar.edu or (845) 437-7294.

Vassar College strives to make its events, performances, and facilities accessible to all. Individuals with disabilities requiring special accommodations must contact the Office of Campus Activities at least 48 hours in advance of an event, Mondays-Fridays, at (845) 437-5370. Without sufficient notice, appropriate space/and or assistance may not be available. For detailed information about accessibility to specific campus facilities, search for “campus accessibility information” on the Vassar homepage (http://www.vassar.edu).

Directions to the Vassar campus, located at 124 Raymond Avenue in Poughkeepsie, NY, are available at www.vassar.edu/directions.

Vassar College is a highly selective, coeducational, independent, residential liberal arts college founded in 1861.